IDEAS & TRENDS; It's Either Good Or Bad, but He's Got 'Joementum'

Published: August 6, 2006

Politicians often say things that they'd like to take back. Perhaps, none more so than Senator Joseph I. Lieberman, who in 2004 made a bad pun during his campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination:

''Writing off speculation that he may make a poor showing in New Hampshire and drop out of the race, Lieberman told CNN's ''Late Edition With Wolf Blitzer'' that his campaign is picking up, as he put it, 'Joementum.' ''

Jan. 26, 2004, CNN.com

Senator Lieberman finished fifth in that primary, and critics were quick to make fun:

The crowds welcomed him with Joevations. He surged in the Joevernights. ''Joementum!'' crowed his campaign. He was Joevial.

Alas, Joeverconfidence felled him. He finished fifth in New Hampshire and was written off. He was Joast. Joadkill. D-Joe-A.

William Saletan Slate.com, Feb. 4, 2004

The pun didn't die with that defeat. It became sarcastic slang, even meriting an entry in Wikipedia, the reader-written online encyclopedia:

Joementum is a portmanteau referring to the perceived lack of potential for success of a campaign or endeavor. The term has become popular among some bloggers, who might say, for instance, that a rapidly failing political campaign was showing Joementum. Now, with polls showing that Senator Lieberman might not win his Democratic primary on Tuesday, that pun has been recycled endlessly on blogs supporting his opponent, Ned Lamont:

''Feel the Joementum!'' And ''Joementum stalls.''

There's even a blog called joementum.com. Of course, if Mr. Lieberman wins, the pun could immediately have a wholly opposite meaning.

Wanted: Super Jeeves

In the September issue of The Atlantic Monthly, Sheelah Kolhatkar describes a new service industry: managing the lifestyles of the megawealthy.

There are now entire schools devoted to training professionals to serve the ultrarich. One of the most prominent is the Starkey International Institute for Household Management, in Denver. On the first day of a four-week course on running a household (programs last four or eight weeks), there was much talk about a recent star graduate, a retired Air Force lieutenant colonel who had just landed a $125,000-a-year job as an estate manager near Washington, D.C.

His boss, a businessman worth about $1.2 billion, had a grand vision for integrating architecture, landscaping, and a vast modern-art collection on his nearly 200-acre estate. The former lieutenant colonel would be designing a model for running it and two other properties, setting up security for all three, maintaining a private jet and generally trying to ensure his boss's perfect quality of life.

An estate manager's role goes far beyond that of the classic butler or personal assistant -- picture Jeeves crossed with the C.E.O. of a Fortune 500 company. It usually involves overseeing multiple residences (a ''household manager,'' by contrast, is typically in charge of just one). This job has become a hot second career for former members of the military, who may retire as young as 40 and are seen as trustworthy and able to take orders without flinching.

To Blog, to Teach

In the July 28 issue of The Chronicle of Higher Education's weekly review, Daniel W. Drezner discusses whether his popular, outspoken blog ruined his chances for tenure at the University of Chicago. He is now a tenured professor at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University.

Blogs and prestigious university appointments do not mix terribly well. That is because top departments are profoundly risk-averse when it comes to senior hires. In such a situation, even small doubts about an individual become magnified.

The trouble with blogs is that they seem designed to provoke easy doubts. Blogs are an outlet for unexpurgated, unreviewed and occasionally unprofessional musings. What makes them worth reading can also make them prone to error. Any honest scholar-blogger -- myself included -- could acknowledge a post or two that they would like to have back.